Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden are a picture of the relationship between God and man. The garden was a specific location within Eden (Hebrew: עֵדֶן “place of pleasure”) in the eastern part. There, the Lord planted every desirable fruit that was pleasant to the eye and pleasing to the taste, and he commanded all things he planted to be fruitful and multiply.

Similarly, God created man from the dirt and placed him in the garden to tend it and serve as its caretaker. And Adam and his wife were also a type of garden created to produce children for God.

Like the garden, they too were commanded to be fruitful and to multiply. As man was to take pleasure in the fruit of the garden, the Lord created mankind to bring forth fruit for His pleasure so that He might take joy in them as His.

“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden”—likewise, the river of life proceeds out from God to man—the Word and Spirit to water and keep the soul of man alive.

In the midst of the garden were two trees: the “Tree of Life” and the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” Adam and Eve were alive both physically and spiritually until they ate the forbidden fruit, which they were commanded not to eat.

Had they eaten exclusively from the Tree of Life and any other tree they desired in the garden, their regeneration would have been perpetual. There was only one tree that would bring death; after eating from that tree, they were forbidden to take from the Tree of Life any longer. Sin separated them from the Tree of Life, and they were driven from the garden, where they began aging until the day of their deaths.

Adam and Eve had the Lord until they sinned; he is the Tree of life in the midst of the garden, and mankind is the garden. After the separation from Christ, mankind brought forth thorns and thistles; the garden that man was intended to be was cursed, and so was the ground—the physical curse reveals the spiritual. Thereafter, the fruit of man was sin, and he gave birth to sinful children, not fit for the Lord.

Because of the transgression of Adam, everyone with a conscience grows in the knowledge of good and evil from their youth. We come into conflict between our desires and what we know to be good and right.

However, the tree we choose to eat from becomes the fruit we develop a taste for. The more evil is tasted, the more it is desired. A constant indulgence in sin eventually leads to the point where there is no longer a taste for righteousness; every bitter thing is sweet.

Jesus is the Tree of Life, but until we accept him into our hearts, we cannot eat from the Tree of Life; all we have to eat from is the tree of good and evil. The knowledge of good and evil itself is not sin, but partaking in the mixed fruit is—we may choose to do good things, but we remain corrupted by our evil nature.

God will not accept the mixed fruit of good and evil, for when the tree is corrupt, the fruit is also corrupt.

When we accept Christ into our hearts, the Tree of Life is restored in the garden. We are allowed to eat from the tree of life and live forever; we enter spiritual Eden. We are then to tend His garden and bear fruit for Him. By the grace of God, through the blood of Jesus, God allows us to return to the Eden of his Spirit.

Nonetheless, when the Tree of Life is restored in us through Christ, we face the same choice and the same temptation that Adam and Eve did. As in Eden, there remain two trees in the midst of the garden—the knowledge of good and evil—but in Christ, we have access to the Tree of Life. If we learn from their failure and ours and resist eating the fruit from the corrupt tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we have eternal life.

However, having knowledge of good and evil, we are more accountable than before and will receive greater condemnation if we knowingly and willingly continue eating forbidden fruit.

When Christ is planted in our hearts, we are the Garden of God. We are grafted as branches growing off the Tree of Life. We are to bring forth other branches as well, all of which are nourished by “The Root,” who is God. Our purpose is to multiply and bring forth fruit pleasing to the Planter.

“For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:

But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.” – Hebrews 6:7-8

“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” (Matthew 7:16-19)